The Origins of Peter Puppy
The Origins of Peter Puppy is the fourteenth episode of Earthworm Jim. It was originally broadcasted on September 7, 1996 as the season two premiere. Summary Jim and Peter travel through Peter's subconscious to try to discover the reasons for Peter's transformations. Synopsis The episode begins rather pleasantly- Earthworm Jim and Peter Puppy are meeting with the President of the United States himself! Unfortunately, Peter gets hurt when Jim accidentally kneels on him, triggering his rage-induced transformation and resulting in carnage, destruction and all-around general mayhem. Jim tries to turn things around with a quiet dinner date with Princess Whats-Her-Name, but Peter hurts himself again when he forgets to wear oven mitts, leading to another transformation and another violent freak out. Jim then heads out to a fine china to purchase some fine dishware... it doesn't take a genius to guess what happens next. This proves to be the final straw. Jim can't live knowing that his dear sidekick will turn into a monster at the slightest injury or insult, so he tries to fix his canine companion. Jim actually has a good idea for how to cure it- find the cause of these monster transformations and the cure can be found, too! Sadly, Peter doesn't remember how it happened, so Jim seeks professional aid (two good ideas in one day; not bad, worm boy!). They try therapists, psychics and (unfortunately) very dangerous and untested brain surgery techniques. None of these work very well (and, likewise, aren't very cost-effective), so Jim takes a truly interesting turn- the Earthworm Mind Meld! Peter is skeptical, but what choice does he have? The process works, but the meld does have some... skin-crawling inducing side effects. Peter remembers how his form became a humanoid one. Peter had been born a puppy on Earth, but was a little bit goofy when he played. The older neighborhood dogs laughed at this (and his small size), so Peter did the ultimate dog taboo- he engaged an active vacuum cleaner! However, Peter learned of the horror behind this simple device- it was a "canine-specific, trans-dimensional portal!", meaning that the poor pup was going for a ride. He ended up on Planet Heck, home to Evil the Cat. Delighted that someone finally broke the great taboo of the dogs, Evil unleashed a vile spirit upon Peter, which possessed him. Peter became an anthropomorphic dog with human intellect and a brilliant mind... but this gift came at a heavy price; whenever he is frightened or harmed, a horrific transformation occurs! The only cure is a tickle (evil spirits can't handle tickles- who knew?). Humanity was cruel to Peter's new form; no matter where he went, he was treated as a freak. At his lowest, Peter ran away to Paris to become a poet (and hopefully, become accepted by society). This didn't work out at all and led to Peter's first freak-out. The destruction was legendary. Utterly alone, Peter stalked the earth without end, stopping only to investigate the city of Terlawk. That's when he met Earthworm Jim and everything changed. Their encounter was a painful one for Peter when bumping into Jim, hurting the former's nose, and he transformed. However, Jim, thinking he was a supervillain battled Peter and threw him on a bus of orphans. Jim found out Peter was ticklish and returned him to normal before tying him up and dragging him, claiming victory. Peter then said in tears that he was not a supervillain, telling Jim to lock him up anyway because he was an outcast and a freak. Jim, knowing how he felt, comforted a crying Peter and offers to make him his sidekick. To this, Peter smiled and accepted. Over the course of several days, the newly-minted super duo assembled a secret headquarters, acquired typical superhero equipment (i.e. weapons, transportation, etc.) and even arranged to encounter their very first super-villain! Via an ad in the paper, a villain comes calling... and it's Evil the Cat! Oh, the irony. Though the battle goes well at first, Evil's ship has enough firepower to wreck our heroes... though, apparently, origami is capable of beating it. Who knew? With the answer made clear, it's obvious what the next course of action is- remove the spirit! Through a bit of reverse psychology, Jim is able to get Evil to purge the spirit from Peter. Unfortunately, there is an unexpected setback for this- no more spirit means that Peter is just a regular dog now. With the odds stacked against him, Jim falls back on a golden plan- run for it! Along the way, he encounters one horror after another- rock slides, sharp caverns, an unhelpful DMV line that literally goes on forever and- perhaps the second greatest horror of this world (apart from Evil) -a greedy television network! All too quickly, Evil finds our heroes and decides to pepper Jim with the mother of all acidic furballs! Thankfully, Peter, recognizing Jim, jumps on Evil, causing him to misfire his acid furball. Peter, then knocks the jar containing the spirit out of Henchrat's hand and reverts back into his humanoid self. Peter then turns into his raging monster form and mauls Evil and Henchrat. Evil is beaten, the day is saved... and cows are falling again. All in a day's work... Transcript For a transcript of "The Origins of Peter Puppy", click here. Characters * Narrator * Earthworm Jim * Peter Puppy * Princess What's-Her-Name * President of the United States * Evil the Cat * Henchrat * Dogs * Orphans * Fine Merchant * Greedy TV Network Locations * Washington, DC * Terlawk * Heck * Paris, France * Hero Hutch Trivia * This is the first episode of the show to not feature an interlude. * This episode along with Opposites Attack!, feature the most number of times Peter transforms. Quotes Video Category:Episodes Category:Earthworm Jim cartoon